Fresno man accused of assaulting 9-year-old, having 100s of child porn videos
A Fresno man pleaded not guilty Friday to multiple counts of sex crimes involving children that, if convicted, could send him to prison for life.
Jesus Tapia, 31, was arrested on June 11 after detectives with the Central California Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force served a search warrant at his home in the 5100 block of East Olive Avenue.
Detectives discovered Tapia, who is unemployed, had been downloading and viewing more than 100 videos of children being sexually abused.
Prosecutor Kaitlin Drake said during Friday’s arraignment that some of the videos were of Tapia sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl. The victim was later identified by detectives as someone Tapia knows.
Tapia is charged with seven counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor, three counts of sexual intercourse or sodomy with a child 10 years or younger, one count of using a minor for sex acts and one count of possession of more than 600 images of child pornography.
Drake said detectives are still at work on the case, and there’s a chance that more charges might be added.
If convicted, Tapia’s maximum sentence would be 75 years to life, plus 20 years and eight months.
Fresno County Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti said at the time of Tapia’s arrest that the significance of his capture could not be understated.
“The distribution and possession of child pornography cases has unfortunately increased substantially. Most arrests occur with victims not being known due to this violent material being produced all around the world and then shared across the internet,” Botti said.
Tapia remains in jail on a $620,000 bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 21.
